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Real reasons Kalu withdrew from Abia governorship race
The campaign was intense. Many supporters of the Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, Benjamin Kalu, were optimistic that he would secure the All Progressives Congress (APC) governorship ticket in Abia State, and likely become governor in 2027.
According to the Deputy Speaker’s supporters, the sitting governor, Alex Otti of the Labour Party (LP), was not going to win a second term.
The Exclusivesonline.com gathered that Kalu’s popularity was giving his opponents in Abia a sleepless night, and in a bid to stop him, they unleashed what they described as “a calculated, covert operation of political attrition.”
It was alleged that some unscrupulous people were mobilised to peddle lies in the media space to disparage and peddle falsehood against the Deputy Speaker.
According to a source, the Deputy Speaker eventually made a detour, despite obtaining the APC governorship form.
It was gathered that one of the reasons he changed his mind was the demands of national legislative duty.
“Benjamin Kalu, as Deputy Speaker of the House of Representatives, is not merely a constituency figure. He, with the Speaker, Tajudeen Abbas, has been a stabilising force of the Tinubu administration’s legislative agenda. The 10th House has, in large measure, enjoyed the smooth, productive character it has because of Kalu’s efforts in managing its affairs. A gubernatorial race will see Kalu exit the green chambers, which the presidency and the ruling party cannot afford, given its desire to come back and ensure that the reforms it has started carrying out are completed,” the source said.
The second reason, according to the source, was because Kalu had staked considerable personal and political capital on ensuring that President Tinubu secures a strong showing in Abia State and the broader South-East region come the next general election.
His vehicle for this, the Renewed Hope Partners, has become an active instrument of presidential outreach in a region historically resistant to the APC.
The source stated further that for Kalu to pursue a governorship race while simultaneously coordinating presidential reelection strategy in the South-East would have been an extraordinary act of multitasking, possible, given his well-documented organisational genius, but imprudent.
The third reason, the source said, “is perhaps the most quietly potent of all: legacy and timing. Benjamin Kalu is a politician who thinks in decades, not cycles. By stepping back now, he does not exit the governorship conversation; he defers it on his own terms.
“He preserves his political capital, avoids the bruising and unpredictable nature of a closely contested race, and emerges from this season with his alliances intact and his national profile elevated. A man who fights every battle risks exhaustion; a man who chooses his battles commands the future,” the source concluded.